Matt Slick Bible Study, Ruth 4

Four.

There it goes.

All right.

Okay, we're live.

Good.

All right, everybody.

We've got a little bit of a five -minute late start here.

I'll pray, and we'll just jump in.

We're going to finish up the book of Ruth, chapter four, and it'll be interesting.

There's some little tidbits in there that are fun, and we'll get to it.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for today.

We thank you, Lord, that you have given us the book of Ruth, and

we ask, Lord, that you would open it to us, open our hearts to it, that you would speak to us through

it.

Lord Jesus, I ask for your mercy and your kindness on all of us who are here, who are listening, and who are here in

this house.

Ask, Lord, for your mercy on them, and, Lord, on me as well, to speak truth according to your kindness,

your grace, and according to your will.

We ask this, Jesus, your precious name.

Amen.

Excuse me.

Okay.

All right.

Hello, Mark, Jude, Perdun.

Did anybody ever say Perdun, you?

Got any Perdun?

Sorry.

All right.

Let's get right in.

Ruth, chapter four, verse one.

Oh, interesting.

Now, Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz

spoke was passing by.

So he said, turn aside, friend.

Sit down here.

He turned aside and sat down.

So this is probably the town gate where he would go to, because most of the cities, most of the

towns had a major gate that people kind of go through.

It became a place of discussion, debate, introductions, just kind of

like a port of entry, so to speak.

And often the elders would sit at the gates, and they would have their seats or

chairs, and people would bring issues to them and talk about things, because these elders were usually

wise men.

They weren't women.

They were men who would do this, generally speaking.

So now the man, the one who has next in line of kingdom and

redeemer is nameless, but in the culture at the time, they would have known his name, of course.

And it seems maybe that since Boaz says, come here and sit down, doesn't

ask him to, he politely tells him to.

And so the man says, okay, it could be because Boaz is kind of rich and successful, and

generally people who are rich and successful kind of garner a little bit more influence than others.

He took 10 men from the elders of the city and said, sit down here.

So they sat down.

So Boaz wanted official witnesses.

It didn't have to necessarily be 10 as if it was some cultural norm or some biblical precedent.

There's 10 commandments, of course.

We have 10 fingers, 10 toes, 10, so is there a relationship?

I really don't know.

But anyway, 10 elders of the city and said, sit down here.

So they sat down.

So he wanted official witnesses to what was going to happen, because what he's going to do is he's going to talk to

the kinsman redeemer.

He wants to marry Ruth, but the kinsman redeemer, who's one step closer

to her, you got to deal with that first.

And if he wants to marry, that's fine.

He can do his job.

But these officials would be the, generally speaking, were the heads of the families.

And so what's going to happen?

I'm we've already gone through it.

Do it every 25, five through nine, a couple, three times.

Just going to read it again, because this is what's important here.

Just culture and it's Bible.

When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the

family to a strange man.

Her husband's brother shall go into her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to

her.

It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name

will not be blotted out from Israel.

But if the man does not desire to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say,

my husband's brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel.

He is not willing to perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.

That thing is interesting because a woman is saying, you got to do this.

This is your job.

I can, it's interesting.

Anyway, then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him.

And if he persists and says, I do not desire to take her, then his brother's wife shall come to him in the sight of the

elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face.

And she shall declare, thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.

All right, so this is the cultural biblical background to what's going on here.

Now, of course, there are hundreds of years of separation between this and the time of Ruth,

hundreds and hundreds of years.

Now, verse three, then he said to the closest relative, now remember the setting is there, and

there's probably other people as well, because you know that they're going to know about Naomi.

They're going to know about Ruth.

They know about Boaz, the kinsman redeemer, the 10 elders at the city.

This is news.

So most probably people are there milling around, watching and paying attention.

All right.

So he said to the closest relative, Naomi, who has come back from the land of Moab, has to sell the piece

of land which belonged to her brother Elimelech.

Now, I don't know why she had to sell the land, and the Bible doesn't say why, but this is the first mention of she's got to

sell the land, maybe to pay off debts, maybe because the woman was not really

supposed to be the one who held property.

It was up to the men in the family to hold property.

So it might be that she was doing the process of selling the land, but it

might go to someone outside the family, and it could be a woman's way of kind of prompting a little

bit to get things done.

Okay.

Because remember, Naomi said to Ruth, you go over to where Boaz is, cover yourself with his cloak,

and you do this, you do that.

So the women are getting things done.

A lot of times, which is the case, men sit around and don't do much.

And then the women kind of prompt them a little bit, and they get things going.

That's how it is sometimes.

And she did it very politely and stuff, with respect and everything.

So anyway, as far as we know, she probably, like I said, probably didn't have any right of inheritance.

Okay.

But she wanted to sell it to the kinsman redeemer and keep it in the family.

That was Naomi.

Now, in the parable of the prodigal son, when the son said, I want my

inheritance, he was saying that he wants his father dead because he wouldn't get the inheritance until after he saw the

father died.

Then he went and took his earnings, his properties, whatever it is, and he went to another land

and wasted it there.

If he had land in his name and went to another area and then sold the

land to outside the family, that's a great scandal, great scandal.

It's interesting when we go through the parables, if we ever do that.

But anyway, most probably the closest relative was aware of the cost of the land because it would be something you'd discuss.

What else are you going to discuss?

You know, the Brandon administration?

No.

You know, the lunar landings, the Mars rovers?

What are you going to discuss?

You're going to discuss what's happening right there in town and things like that.

So verse four, so I thought to inform you, saying, buy it before

those who are sitting here and before the elders of my people.

If you will redeem it, redeem it.

But if not, tell me that I may know for there is no one but you to redeem it and I am after you.

And he said, I'll redeem it.

So this unnamed man says, okay, I'll redeem the land.

Now, what does that mean?

We haven't told you.

You're also going to marry Ruth to get the land.

Now, if he bought the land and there was no woman to have

to raise up seed to or sons to, then that would mean he'd keep the land.

But if he had a wife and he had to go into her and raise up children, a son

for the brother or the next in line, then when that son became of age, the land would revert to him.

Now that could be a detriment financially to a group of people, a man, a family,

because he'd have to take money to buy that land.

But at least it'd be in his family.

He had the potential to sell it.

But if he's got to have the wife and raise up seed for the

brother, then the money he would have spent for that land,

in a sense, is going to be lost.

So it could be a huge financial burden.

But don't want to say this guy, just some schlep who doesn't want to do his duty, but there's

related information to it.

All right.

Then Boaz said, on the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must

also acquire Ruth, the Moabitess, the widow of the deceased, in order

to raise up the name of the deceased of his inheritance.

So it's like, I don't know if there's any scheming there.

You've got to do this, you've got to do that.

And then you also got to do the wife thing and oh, well, back the truck up.

So he's a little bit surprised about this, it looks like, and he must marry Ruth, a Moabitess, not a

Jew, Jewess, but a Moabitess.

But Ruth, however, is now adopting the ways of Judaism.

And yet she's still kind of an outsider.

She'd have a different accent, wouldn't know the culture, wouldn't know a lot of stuff, might or might not know the language.

I don't know what the context there would be, but it doesn't really matter.

At this point, he probably spoke the same kind of language, because Moabite, really close to, not too far from Jerusalem, but nevertheless.

And so, okay, verse six, so the closest relative said, I cannot

redeem it for myself because I would jeopardize my own inheritance.

Redeem it for yourself.

You may have my right of redemption for I cannot redeem it.

So now that there's full disclosure, the closest relative says, no, thank you.

Like I said, maybe it's because it might be a significant expense, but he's willing to endure an expense if the

land is his, will stay his, and it's an asset to his family and his children.

It doesn't say he has children, but in that culture, they married pretty quickly, pretty early,

because generally speaking, they were arranged marriages.

And they were often betrothed, I think, 16, 17 years old,

and time to get married and start having babies and be blessed of God.

That was one of the things that was kind of required in that culture.

So Elimelech knows that if he's got to marry Ruth, then this issue with the land and

stuff.

Now, there's an interesting thing to think about here.

Let's just say the kinsman redeemer, the closest redeemer, let's just say he did buy it, and he did

take Ruth as his wife, and he was going to lose the right

of the land later on.

Let's just say that's the case.

Then there would be a representation, a type of Christ in that, because

Jesus redeems us, and there's nothing he gets back from us in it.

Now, this doesn't mean here that the

typology is related to the man who refused, but that's what would have happened.

It's what would have happened.

So Boaz steps in, but the same thing's going to occur.

The same thing's going to occur in that Boaz is saying, okay, I will buy the land and raise up, because he

says it, I'll raise up child for Elimelech, and he's going to get the land.

Now, that's a true kinsman redeemer.

He's willing to do this, full knowledge, full knowledge.

So it's a type of Christ.

Boaz is a type of Christ in that he's willing to buy the bride,

buy that land, do what's necessary to redeem her.

He's not really going to get anything back from it financially, legally.

He gets a wife, but it's more give than take.

Not that that's the whole reason of anything in marriage, but this is it.

It's more of a giving, complete giving of himself for the bride, and I think there's a type of Christ

redemptive work in there.

Now, what I think is interesting is that the kinsman redeemer, the close relative, I'm

going to assume he's married.

I'm going to assume that.

But if he is married, why does he say, my wife won't like this?

Are you kidding me?

But that's not the case, because the wives would have known that this is what was culturally obligatory to

their husband.

Now, could you imagine you got your husband, and his brother dies, and you got this situation, and

now what he's got to do, and you approve of it, is take the brother's ex -wife

and marry her and raise up children, and you'd be like, okay, no problem.

Different culture, different time, right?

Different culture, different time.

And my wife would say, no sandwiches for you.

That's what would happen.

Anyway, so verse 7, now, this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the

exchange of land to confirm any matter.

A man removed his sandal and gave it to another, and this was the manner of attestation in

Israel.

Now, when we read in Deuteronomy 25, five through, what was it, five through nine,

she, the one who was insulted by the brother not

redeeming and not raising up children, she'd take off his sandal, okay?

The one whose sandal was removed, that was an insult.

He takes off his own sandal.

It's interesting, stuff about sandals.

And so I'm sure this is related to the right of redemption.

Now, so anyway, he voluntarily

removes his own sandal, so it's not an insult.

He's signifying something, a wise sandal.

And I did some research, and to be honest, I'm not sure why, what sandal means in that

sense.

It's worth a look, but let's get to

verse eight.

So the closest relative said to Boaz, buy it for yourself, and he removed his sandal.

Now, in the previous verse, it had to be explained to the reader that this was a custom.

So enough time had passed such that the custom wasn't really that known, but these were dedicated Jewish

people, and they were holding to the law.

And now sometimes, as often happens in a culture through a period of time, what's normal becomes

a little bit deviated, which might explain why he took his own

sandal off, where it kind of seems as though the sandal removal is an insult.

But like I said, if it's taken off by somebody else and spit in the face, that's an insult.

But if you take it off, it looks like it's a symbol of a legal transaction.

But look at this, which all this is done in full view of the elders.

And Exodus 3, 5, it says, then he, that's Yahweh, said to Moses, and this is at the burning

bush, do not come near here.

Remove your sandals from your feet for the place in which you're standing is holy ground.

Now, I used to know a guy when he would preach, because of this verse, he would take his shoes and

socks off.

And I liked that, you know, he would preach barefoot because he considered the pulpit to be holy ground, the

presence of God.

And I always thought that was kind of cool, but that's what he did.

Joshua 5, 15, the captor of the Lord's host as an angel said to Joshua, remove your sandals from your feet for the place where

you are standing is holy, and Joshua did so.

This was at Jericho when this happened.

I won't get into too much about that, but I will brag.

I've been to Jericho.

I've stood on the walls and walked around in Jericho.

So, there you go.

You can deal with that.

Okay, good.

It was a lot of fun.

It was great stuff.

And I learned something when I was outside of Jericho.

The tour guide, when we were walking up, there was these about a foot, a foot and a half

high walls that were like guardrails, but they, you know, just made of stone.

And they were very, very, very old.

And there were pomegranates engraved on them.

And he said, look at the pomegranates.

And we're walking.

And this is when I learned that there were 613 seeds in a pomegranate,

613 laws in the Old Testament.

And so, the pomegranate represented the law of God, and you're walking to the law of God.

Interesting.

He says he took two pomegranates and counted them on his own, and each time they came up to 613.

So, I'm going to trust him on that.

It's a great story.

I hope it's true.

Matthew 311, as for me, John the Baptist, I baptize you with water for repentance.

But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove his sandals.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Prodigal son, Luke 15, 22, but the father said to his slaves, quickly bring out the best robe and put

it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.

Servants went around barefoot.

Servants' job was to clean feet.

Let's look at this just for a minute.

They didn't have socks.

They had sandals, and they didn't have pavement or

cement.

They had roads that they and the animals would go on, and animals would urinate and defecate,

and you would walk in among that.

People would step on stuff.

It'd get tossed, moved around.

You could be next to somebody.

Some fragment of something could spray upon you, et cetera.

Your feet were dirty.

And also what happened is the mud would kind of cake on the feet.

Now, they didn't just come home and wipe their feet, kick their shoes off, go

upstairs, go get a shower, come back.

Everything's fine because if they're going to wash their feet, generally a servant did it, or they would do it

themselves.

But a lot of times because of the culture, you just got used to it.

You're tired.

You sat down.

You might scrape off this or that.

You might rub off a couple of chunks of something on your feet outside as you walked in.

Good enough because they often had dirt floors.

What's the big deal?

Et cetera.

You might have rugs on the floor, but the rugs would become dirty as well.

So the feet became a symbol of filth, of dirt,

and undesirable things.

Take the sandal and throw it at somebody.

It's a very huge insult in that culture.

I'm not even worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.

Whoa.

Oh, now I get it.

Wow, that's really something.

Not even worthy to do that.

That's what John the Baptist says of Jesus.

Now, in light of that, remember, when Jesus went to the Pharisee's house, Simon,

and Simon did not anoint his head, did not kiss him on the cheek, did not provide even

something for Jesus to clean his own feet, didn't have a servant do it because the Pharisee would have had a servant,

which is an insult.

All three of these things to not do is insulting.

And this woman comes in, who's a woman of ill repute, most commentators agree,

and lets her hair down in public, which is divorceable.

And then, oh, man, goes over to Jesus at his feet.

Now, remember, he'd be on his left elbow, the table's about this high, and they would lean on their left elbow and they would

eat with their right hand, and their feet would go away from the table.

That's how people ate, lay on cushions.

And so the feet are away, and she lets her hair down, scandal,

touches this holy man, she's illegitimate, she's a woman of ill repute, and then

kisses his feet.

Wow, what an act of worship and humility that this woman produced.

And it's the most humble thing I've seen in scripture.

And wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with her own hair,

and took the perfume, and oh, wow.

And he praised her.

Just amazing.

To me, it's just amazing.

It's one of my favorite stories.

And sometimes when I preach it, I sometimes have to tell the congregation, if I get a little

misty -eyed, you gotta understand, this is one of the most beautiful stories in the entire Bible, in my opinion.

And it is.

And she doesn't say a word.

Not a word of hers is recorded in that thing.

And it was just worshipful.

It's just amazing.

Anyway, so verse nine.

Oh, incidentally, the Greek word for sandal is hupodema.

It occurs 10 times in the New Testament.

You're welcome.

Then verse nine, Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses today

that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belong to Elimelech, and all that belong to

Kilion and Mallon.

Now, did he buy his wife?

Yeah.

Now, in what sense did he buy?

And I don't know that one.

I was reading through some commentaries on this too.

And I always like to ask these questions that a lot of commentaries don't really address.

You can read the text.

A lot of stuff makes sense.

But then I'm gonna go do some more research.

So it says buy.

You don't go out and buy a wife, do you?

Yeah, you do actually.

In some parts of the world, you do.

I remember once a film, movie, I only remember one scene, this beautiful model

type woman, slender.

She could have been a model, you know, and a TV model if she wanted, whatever.

She's beautiful and all this.

And for some reason in the plot of the movie, she was standing up with a bunch of

women who were rather sturdily built.

They had these headscarves on.

And the situation was, men were looking for wives.

And the women would present themselves.

And whatever men would pick that woman, that was, you got married, that was it.

And so they're going to the, they're going to these women, looking at her teeth, looking at their

ankles.

And they go to this pretty one.

And they go, oh, useless.

Just get away.

I never forgot that.

I got a big kick out of that.

And because her ankles were thin, she couldn't, you know, and they took her hips and shook her hips, you

know.

And so I got a kick out of that.

That was funny.

But the one that was taken with these big, sturdy women, okay, you know.

And so I just remember that.

Is it worthless?

Kind of worthless information, but it made you smile.

So the thing is that different cultures at different times, marriages are done differently.

And there are actually cultures where you can marry by buying.

They happen.

There are marriages by exchange.

There's marriages by dating and long engagements and all kinds of stuff in between.

And marriages where you don't even see your wife's face

until after you've said, I do.

And then the veil comes off and you see what you're, yeah.

What you got.

See what you got.

Just like, we'll talk about that in a minute.

Okay.

Can you imagine that?

You'd be like, you know, I can see some, some woman getting me, you know, like,

you know, I don't know with her, I'd have been like, I was like, yeah.

I remember once I saw a picture of, um, of the cult,

uh, out of Korea, Sung Yong Moon, the Moonies, and, uh, he would

do marriages and I saw a picture and what he would do is to

walk up to men and women, you with you, you with you, you with you.

And I saw this picture and there was, you know, all kinds of races, all kinds of, this is

all kinds of that.

And I stood in the one couple stood out.

She was a beautiful blonde married to this black guy.

Nothing, you know, I'm my problem, I guess, interracial marriage, who cares?

But he was like smiling.

And, uh, she was like, cause he, he wasn't exactly the, you know, what looked like a great catch.

And, uh, but I remember that and, uh, but he was happy.

I never forgot that at any rate, but in that culture though,

looks were kind of important, but more so it was raising up children for the Lord,

being blessed.

It was a part of the duty of the, of the people to serve God in their marriages, raise up children

for the land of Israel through whom the Messiah would come.

It was a very serious thing.

It wasn't just, we get a job, we have a mortgage, we go get a car.

It was in this household.

It's for the purpose of honoring the God of Israel.

And that how many women might've been wondering, will the Messiah come through me?

You know, nothing to braggy or whatever, but you know, cause the Messiah is going to come through a woman

born in Israel.

And every woman had that opportunity to wonder, will my distant son be the Messiah?

What an interesting privilege.

I think it would be great.

So it was a lot of their job.

And so, uh, there we go.

Okay.

But the minute they got married, then they wouldn't, then that they wouldn't be able to do it anymore because

they wouldn't be able to bear Jesus because they were married.

If they get married, then right.

They had to be a virgin.

Once you had, you got married, you could have children.

It was the children.

But I'm talking about somebody who was, who wanted to be the mother of Jesus.

No, no, no, no.

I meant, no, I meant that they knew the Messiah was coming, but they didn't know through which

family or, well, they actually, they kind of did to the later on.

But, um, so once they got married, they have children, then they would, they could say,

they can only say that they're married.

I wonder if it'd be through my, my descendants.

I thought it had to be a virgin.

It's hard for virgins to have children.

And, uh, I, you know, it's a biology thing.

It's happened once that we know of, but, um, no, they had, it would, they get married to

have children.

And then the wife would become a mom, but wonder if her son or their son of that son of that son of that son

down the line would be the Messiah.

So they could say, were they in that lineage?

I wasn't clear before the guys got it.

What they're in the lineage.

Yes.

Yeah.

That's what I'm saying.

Okay.

Uh, notice how I sit far away for the kids slap me.

I'm out of slapping range, except for one person.

Pretty close.

I got to move over in the corner.

All right.

Okay.

Uh, let's see.

What's amazing Rasmus, Michael Cohen, and Matt, they did that in the 1800s, the old west, they

were called mail order brides, United States.

That's right.

Mail order brides.

That's right.

That's right.

Mail order bride.

What if you're a woman and you put an ad, you want a husband, you have to go to Alaska, meet this guy.

He's a, does something up there and you get in a boat and you go up there and you get married.

Well, like I say, you know, russianbrides .com go check it out or don't.

Oh, you did, huh?

It didn't work out.

It was very bad.

Well, I, Nick and I were watching, uh, when I mentioned it last week, we're watching on, on YouTube about a

Filipino girl talking about why Filipino women are better wives than American

wives.

Yeah.

It was kind of a long infomercial, but she does, but she,

but it was all kinds of things.

Yeah.

And she said, oh yeah, we're very dedicated.

And again, we like to work.

We like to this, like that, like to have children like to this.

And they make great sandwiches.

It was right up, right up the front.

They call it a lumpia great lumpia or lumpia.

Oh, that's a good one.

That's good stuff.

Sandwiches made easy.

Sandwiches made easy.

I've brought that into the ground so much.

I'm still getting some mileage out of it.

All right, let's get back on the case.

Let's see.

Always on Thursday evening at this time.

Okay.

I put someone saying Christian value, man.

Got to go.

Thanks, man.

I'll try to find out when you're planning on doing more of these Bible studies.

God bless everybody.

Okay.

Okay.

Let Laura Anderson smack.

Okay.

Verse nine.

I think I already read that.

Yeah.

That we already did verse nine.

Okay.

So he's making it legal, making it known, making it official.

So he's binding himself, not only in the marriage he will be binding, but in the culture

and in the community.

Now that's something we are not familiar with.

You go to the gates of your town and then you bind yourself before the representatives of that town

to do something.

And it was important that you followed through.

Your reputation was on the line at this point.

This is something that's different.

Men's reputations were very, very valuable, very important back then.

If you gave your word, you had to count on that.

You could count on that.

I remember hearing stories from the 1800s, early 1900s.

If two men made a business deal, they only had to agree verbally and it was done.

And they would not go back on it because there were Christian men who knew that their word was representative of their

commitment to Christ.

And that was it.

And so we don't have that now.

Now you get everything in writing and then sue me.

Now I have friends.

If they give you your word, that's it.

Good enough.

I've got friends like that.

You give me your word, done.

I don't have to ask.

I don't have to worry about it.

And they take their own word and integrity very seriously.

This is how it's supposed to be back then.

And this is part of the reputation of the man.

So that if a man was accused of being a liar or a cheat, it's very serious.

They would often get into fights over this.

You don't say that.

You had to defend your honor, defend your honor.

And think about that as a wife, your husband's honor was just as important for your

family.

Because if he couldn't be trusted, that could have some pretty serious side effects for your family life, your children,

success, and some other stuff.

So honor is a very important thing.

And he's before the elders.

Here it is.

He says, verse 10, Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Malon,

to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.

I'm going to stop there.

Notice what he says.

I've acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Malon.

I get the impression that as he's saying this, some of the elders are writing this down.

Or somebody who has skill at writing would be writing this down because it's legal.

I think he's identifying.

I've acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Malon.

He's saying this is who it is, to be my wife in order to raise up the name

of the deceased on his inheritance.

So Boaz says, no problem.

I will marry her, and I'll raise up children for her ex

-spouse or late husband, for that family, and the land that I purchase will be his.

Wow.

That's really something.

That's really something.

So that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birthplace.

You are witnesses today.

He says that.

You're witnesses.

This is official, and it's theological because it's before the elders, and it's according to

the Deuteronomy 25, 5 -7 requirement of the right of redemption and raising up children,

5 -9 it is.

So important stuff.

All right.

So would you say that Boaz was a God -fearing man?

Yeah, I would say so.

So Ruth had moved from the land of the

Moabites serving false gods, and had moved with Naomi into Israel,

and was now affirming the true God because she was going with the right of

redemption, and knew that her relationship with her husband, Malan,

he had died.

He was Jewish.

She's submitting to all of that.

Boaz knows that.

She's in the true faith.

So Boaz is all the more inclined to support her.

Now, verse 11, all the people who were in the court and the elders

said, and remember I said a lot of people would be there, the court, that big area, okay?

We are witnesses.

May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah,

both of whom built the house of Israel, and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in

Bethlehem.

And Micah 5, 2, from you, Ephrathah, or Bethlehem, Ephrathah, from you

will go forth from his goings, will be a redeemer in Israel for his goings forth are from long ago, from

days of from ancient times.

So it's Micah 5, 2 is the prophecy of the birth of the Messiah.

Now it says, be like Rachel and Leah.

So Rachel was a daughter of Laban, and Leah was also the daughter of Laban.

And so you know the story, well, Jacob, he wanted,

what?

He wanted Rachel, yeah.

He wanted Rachel because she's a hot babe.

And so the veil thing, and then they do the marriage and lo and behold, it's Leah.

Why?

Because you can't give it by my other daughter, you know, she's younger or older, whoever, or be

married first.

And so what does Jacob do?

Okay, another seven years of labor to get Rachel.

Wow.

So he worked 14 years to get her.

That's Genesis 29, 15 through 30 talks about that.

She becomes a mother of Joseph, Joseph.

Joseph's really important, right?

And Leah was a daughter of Laban married to Jacob.

Now others

besides the official witnesses had by this time gathered at the city gate to affirm the legality of the transaction and to

add their blessings to that of the elders.

The blessing implies that more than one child was hoped for.

Rachel and Leah together with their handmaids had born Jacob 12 sons.

Boaz would be rewarded if Ruth bore him many sons to add to his prestige and

prosperity.

So the first male born, it goes to Malan's house, the property

goes, but the rest is his own with Ruth, the Moabitess.

And I got that out of the new Bible commentary written with that.

It's interesting.

Joseph's an interesting person.

We could study his life sometime, but I just want to say this one tidbit of information, which is just kind of nice.

Joseph was in jail for a couple of years, right?

He got framed, was in there.

Two men joined him, a baker and a winemaker, bread and wine.

And which one was killed?

Think of bread and wine, which one's broken?

The bread.

Who was killed?

The baker.

Interesting typology.

Nevertheless, let's go to verse 12.

Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, to the

offspring, which the Lord will give you by this young woman.

Perez, who was born to Tamar, was an ancestor of Boaz and undoubtedly of many others in the area.

So they're wishing blessings on her, on them.

May you have children.

That's a blessing.

Now, here in America, not so much.

Now, some families say, how many children can we get?

Let's get as many as possible.

I think that's a good thing to do.

It's possible, that's doable, and practical and things like that.

But this is the blessing.

This is the idea, because a woman who had children was considered blessed of the Lord.

All right.

Then the woman said to Naomi, blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name

become famous in Israel.

So Naomi's being congratulated,

and the woman said to Naomi, blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer

today.

So that means the land that she was selling, for whatever reason, is going to be purchased, and her

daughter -in -law, her daughter -in -law, now has a redeemer,

and a son will most probably be born.

They had a lot of kids, generally speaking.

Okay.

Verse 15, may he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age,

for your daughter -in -law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.

What a compliment.

She's better than seven sons.

You think she was?

She was a humble woman.

She went from her land to another land.

She did not demand her own rights.

She submitted to the God of Israel, listened to Naomi,

patiently went through the process of redemption, submitted to the

culture, the time, the issues, the needs, and didn't complain,

didn't demand.

But she was willingly submissive to what God was doing in her life.

And for this reason, she's better than seven sons.

We know from her life, what is it that makes someone, and this doesn't just apply to a woman, what makes

someone so valuable?

Is it that they have money, nice cars, or that they have children?

All these things are important.

We look at them, but that's not what the important thing is.

Our character before God is what's important.

How are we before God?

What are we like?

Are we humble before God?

If we're humble before God, we're going to be humble before each other.

There's something I learned years ago.

You ask God for patience.

He puts you in situations where you've got to learn to be patient.

But I remember reading or hearing or whatever it was years and years ago, that if you want to be

humble before God, you're going to be humble before his people.

I never forgot that.

And I think about it every now and then.

When I'm praying, I say, Lord, make me humble and loving.

Well, that means before people.

To be humble before God is good.

I'm never humble before God because I know my heart.

I don't trust it.

It's pretty bad.

The more I pray, the more I say, okay, thank you for God's grace, period.

But I know that in my prayers like this, what it means is the way I

am with him, I've got to be with people.

That's very difficult for me in particular to do.

I've asked burgers and moved a lot and got beat up from resistance

and stuff like that.

I don't like bullies.

Yet, in light of that, God says to me in my own

heart, and you can relate to this kind of a thing, I don't care about how you were brought up.

How are you supposed to be?

Are you humble before me?

Then be humble before people.

No, I don't want to get walked on.

I don't want to get stepped on.

I guess you're not going to be humble, are you?

Ruth is a great example of this.

We don't hear any of her complaints.

She did what her mother -in -law said to do.

She left her own land.

She could have got a husband back then, back there.

She went the hard route, and she stuck it out, and she did what was right before God

and before people.

That's true.

It's true.

It's something that I need personally.

I need to work on a great deal.

I'm not just saying it.

It's something I need to work on.

One of the things I like reading about the women, for real, this is just my own opinion, is

that I'm touched a lot by the women's actions more than I am the guys,

like the woman who let her hair down and served Jesus that way and kissed his feet.

Wow.

I don't see any man doing that.

Not that I'm not knocking all women are better.

That's not it.

We have different strengths and different weaknesses.

I learn that, and I see that.

I see this blessedness in Ruth.

Just because she's a woman doesn't mean that she can't teach us.

Just because we're men doesn't mean we can't emulate that kind of humility and service before God by being that way

before people.

Generally, when I read about the women doing something, I want to listen.

This woman who went up and touched Jesus' hem was healed.

Do you know why she was healed?

Because she believed.

What?

She believed.

She believed.

Her faith has healed you, but she touched something very specific, the hem.

On the hem, it's called the talit and the tzitzit.

It was a series of knots that were put around the hem around certain garments that

symbolized the law.

She's pushing her way through a crowd.

Think about that.

A woman, physically smaller, physically weaker, pushing through a crowd

to go to this great teacher man and bend down and touch the law,

recognizing who he is.

She's healed.

Just like that.

Now, I'm not saying men are stupid, but we don't see a man doing that,

but we do see this woman doing that.

And I think it's interesting.

The women are the ones who were at the tomb first, taking care of him.

They were out in public.

And what was the other one?

Well, of course, the centurion, he had great faith.

He said to Jesus, I know that if you say this, it'll be it.

And that's the kind of faith we need to emulate as men.

Trust in who Christ is.

Let's get things done.

But oh yeah, Mary and Martha.

And I like that account too, because Mary and Martha are sitting there, and

Martha's complaining about Mary.

I can't remember.

Martha's complaining about Mary, because Mary's doing nothing.

And who does Jesus praise?

She wasn't making any sandwiches.

Oh, she was not doing that.

She was doing the best thing possible, being with Jesus.

And it's like, oh, that's right.

I think about that.

What's the best thing to do?

I actually think about that, because I'm Mary.

I got these articles to write.

I got this radio to do.

I got these things to do.

I got this debate to do.

I got this.

But the better thing is it's at his feet.

And I'm convicted by that.

I am learning how to slow down and say, okay, where's the priority?

You know, so it'd be interesting just to study the women

of the Bible and learn from their thing.

We learn from Paul.

I mean, I could tell you what Paul did, Peter did.

We go to John.

We go to Moses.

Moses was great.

Look what he did with the sea.

Come on, Joseph.

The whole bit.

All these great men.

All right, we got all these great men.

But the women, they have other things to teach in a different way.

And it's nice to learn from them as well, as the scriptures has told, through the Holy Spirit, has

brought them to the place of being recorded.

Okay.

All right.

Now, I think we're going to go over

verse, wait, verse, okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

We're at verse 12.

Go to verse 13.

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife and he went into her and the Lord enabled her to

conceive and she gave birth to a son.

Now, a son is important because that attributes the blessings, the legal line, the

strength, the ownership of land.

It's a blessing.

The woman said to Naomi, blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today.

That's the son.

And may his name become famous in Israel.

Further proof of Boaz raising up an heir to a limeleck would take care of

Naomi because they were obligated in that culture to take care of their parents.

Obligated to do that.

May he also be to a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age.

For your daughter -in -law who loves you and is better to you than seven sons has given birth to him.

Verse 16, then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap and became his nurse.

So she was adopting him.

She was accepting him is what it is.

Now became his nurse.

I wonder if it meant a wet nurse or if a different kind, but because if you're,

because you, you know, hold on a sec here, hold that.

He went real fast.

Yep.

All right.

Sorry about that folks.

You thought it was a rapture, didn't you?

Yeah, it's a rapture.

Let's get up here.

Here we go.

Okay.

I'll get us locked that in and lock that in.

There we go.

And how come it's not, okay, there we go.

Why is that not?

Oh, there we go.

Thank you, sir, for holding that.

Actually, what I did was I kicked the corner of my foot and

anyway, it was really great.

I forgot what it was.

Let's move on.

Okay.

Wet nurse, because don't you have to, as a woman, you have to kind of be pregnant in order to

get the equipment ready.

So how not a right way to say it, but I mean, the nurse, but I've heard that there are wet nurses.

So maybe the ladies could tell me is if maybe there's a way to, yeah, I'll shut up.

Because you have a child, you already had your child and you're still producing milk.

And then you go to another child and you keep producing because you have a new baby.

But Naomi was the nurse.

I want to know if it was a wet nurse.

It was something I don't know about.

Probably shouldn't just leave this a while.

The good kid going, right?

I'll just, we're not going anywhere.

I just, I don't know.

I ask these kinds of questions.

I wonder, you know, it's what the key information,

which just tells you how I think, you know, it's like, well, how's that work?

I don't know that she could do that because she had been, she could, I don't think she can.

What do you think she could move on?

It is possible.

My wife says, okay, we'll move along.

Oh, well, we had to come abreast of that topic.

All right.

The women of the area.

Oh, I got a lot more in my head.

I'm not going to say them.

I got more.

I'm not, I'm not going to know.

Let's go on.

Okay.

I'm not trouble.

Why are you guys all laughing?

Oh, cause I'm in trouble.

That's why you're laughing.

That's what it is.

Okay.

All right.

I got more, but I'll leave it alone.

All right.

Verse 18.

All right.

The women of the area understood that this was Naomi's son and Obed.

He's a short form of Obadiah.

Okay.

And that's our cat's name.

Obi.

We call him Obadiah and Obi or Kittler or pigster, depending, but

Obed is short for Obadiah, which means servant of the Lord.

It's a fitting name for the grandfather of King David.

That's what, that's what happens here.

Jesse means I possess and David means beloved.

So now basically what we're going to end with are, I'm going to read them, is the end of this chapter and the end of

the book of Ruth is a genealogy.

And we'll discuss this a little bit.

Now, these are the generations of Perez.

To Perez was born Hezron.

And to Hezron was born Ram.

And to Ram, Aminadab.

And to Aminadab was born Nashan.

And to Nashan, Salmon.

And to Salmon was born Boaz.

And Boaz, Obed.

To Obed was born Jesse.

To Jesse was born David.

That's included in the genealogy.

This is important.

It's probably one of the reasons that the Jews accepted this book, you know, because of the genealogical

necessity.

Also the kinsman redeemer issue because they understood the prophetic nature of it.

All right.

So from Salmon to David, not Salmon, Salmon, but Salmon to David was

380 years.

Generations here were, are omitted for brevity.

Because if you go back and you actually look at the research and the other part, the genealogies, this leaves some

out and does it on purpose.

Because what they would do is use genealogical representations.

This person, that person, that person, this person.

And so not all genealogies are exactly identical.

Exactly accurate.

And that's normal.

That was okay.

Because you'd get the biggies of history and list out the big influencers of history.

So, so, so, and so.

That's how the culture was.

All right.

So it serves a document, the legitimacy of David's ancestry.

Because through David, his house would, the Messiah would come.

Now in these names, it says Perez, which means breach.

Hezron means surrounded by a wall.

Where is, hey, we're surrounded by a wall.

I was playing with the breach over there.

These are the names like, you know, the Indian names, you know, where's running bear.

Ram means high or exalted.

Amitadab means by kinsman.

My kinsman is noble.

Nashon means enchanter.

Salmon means garment.

Boaz means fleetness.

Obed means servant.

So this genealogy does not include Elimelech, which is interesting.

Instead, Obed is called the son of Boaz, but legally, technically it's

supposed to be of Elimelech, but they know what's going on.

They know this issue and they just said a Boaz.

This is probably due to legal lineage, which is interesting because legal

lineage is interesting.

I forgot where, but Jeconiah was, there's a curse on

Jeconiah that none of his descendants would sit on the throne of David.

But Jeconiah is in the lineage of

Jesus by Joseph, on Joseph's side.

And so how is it then that Jesus being a descendant of Joseph

could sit on the throne of David, the king, but yet there's a curse on his descendants.

The legal lineage was biologically through the father, but there wasn't any in that case with Jesus.

But the biological was through That's why there's two genealogies, two genealogies

in the Bible in Matthew and Luke.

Anyway, this book, Ruth, is full of the

sovereignty of the hand of God.

And the central figure here is Ruth, but also Boaz, are kind of central

figures.

But Ruth is the one who stands out because of her goodness, her humility, her

trust before God and before people.

Now, do you think she'd be like that with her husband?

Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely.

That's why he wanted her as a wife.

Who knows?

That's very attractive.

Yes, it is.

Yeah, it is.

So, and then Proverbs talks about a good wife, you know, and there's different things.

And if she goes out and buys a field, she's good, she's competent, loyal, works and things like that.

So there's a lot of good qualities to be said of women biblically.

In faithfulness, God provided for Ruth and thereby Naomi provided for us as well, a redeemer, the true kinsman

redeemer, Jesus.

So some of the lessons in the book, what would you say some of the lessons of the book are?

What do you think?

What?

Obedience?

Yeah, that's one.

Being obedient to God.

Right.

What another one?

Just there's several.

Submission.

Submission.

Submission to what?

Submission to God.

To God.

And familiar responsibilities.

Right.

That's what created the whole family.

Yeah.

And as we're talking about these women and the things that are, wow, the stories, my mind

keeps going back to Eve and how Eve broke down.

She didn't submit.

She went into her own thing.

So it's nice to hear those stories.

Yeah, Eve really blew it.

But you got to, you know, she had the devil personally working against her.

And so not that it gives her a pass, but still.

Yeah.

Humility.

Yeah.

Humility of Ruth.

Ruth, I see as being very humble, very humble, very humble woman, very attractive, very

humble woman.

Now, what about Boaz?

What kind of things we learned from Boaz?

What's that?

Dutiful.

Dutiful.

And?

Honorable.

Honorable.

Dutiful and honorable.

Those are similar.

Right.

And he was, in a real sense, a type of Christ here.

And Ruth is a type of us, the bride, who was

redeemed by the kinsman redeemer.

And the preciousness of Ruth is interesting because her sins aren't recorded.

Her sins are not recorded, which is just as Jesus, as the Bible says, he will remember our sins no more.

Remember our sins no more.

I think she represents the bride, what it's supposed to be.

Humble before God, trusting in God.

And the bride, we trust one another inside the faith.

If Jesus says something interesting, they will know that you're my disciples, what a love you have for one another.

John 13, I think it is 34, I think.

But the idea here is that there's more to this than just a nice story.

There's lessons and types, because Jesus says in John 5, 39, you search the scriptures because in them you

think you have eternal life, but it is these are bare witness of me.

So this book, Ruth, is about Jesus ultimately.

And we have to find Jesus in there because that's what Jesus said.

So Jesus is found in the kinsman redeemer, Boaz.

Ruth represents the bride redeemed by the kinsman redeemer, who gives up a lot of what he

owns to redeem someone else for something he won't get back, which is what it is

with us.

We can't pay him back.

We can't pay him back anything.

And so what's our obligation then?

To continue to love God and love our neighbor.

And if you want to love God, you got to love your neighbor.

You want to say, Lord, I want to love you.

He's going to say, good, this is how I want you to do it, that person across the street.

Because that's what God himself did.

God so loved the world that he gave.

The nature of love is other -centered.

Greater love has no man than this, but he lay his life down for his friend, John 15, 13.

Love is other -centered and God is love, 1 John 4, 8.

So God is loving and other -focused.

And if he wants us to love God and love our neighbor, which is the greatest commands, we can't be

selfish.

We can't be stubborn.

We can't be prideful.

We can't be arrogant.

We can't be self -righteous.

We can't be self -justifying.

What other things are we not supposed to be?

Arrogant.

We can't be these things if we're to manifest the love of God given to us through the blood of Christ,

which we're obligated to do as Christians.

Now, I'll tell you, I don't like that.

That's honest.

I don't like it because it's hard.

It's hard to love my wife sometimes.

It's hard for her to love me sometimes.

It's hard for me to love my neighbor sometime or my friends sometime or others sometime or

the branded administration.

It's difficult to do that, but we're called to do these things anyway.

And sometimes we just have to be obedient whether or not we like it.

And I think there's something to that.

I remember when Nick and I had marriage problems early on in our marriage, doing seminary and stuff like that, we went and saw

a counselor, and he helped.

He really did.

And he said, because I had a trouble, well, anyway, he said this.

He says, you love by doing, not because you feel it.

You do what's right.

And he says, that if you're honoring God in this, then he rewards you in your heart

as you serve.

And I said, I hate it when he does that.

I hate it when he's right.

I can't argue with that.

Because he said a couple of things like that in the counseling that were just, you're right.

And there's nothing you can say about it.

He's just right.

And he was getting this out of Christ himself.

He was my professor in seminary also, a good man who taught me a lot

in a different way.

But I was taught through trials and tribulations.

I've grown and still have a lot to grow.

But here's the thing, is that if we're going to be loving, we can't just be loving in word.

We've got to be loving in deed.

And that can be very difficult.

Even the people that wrong you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Even the people that wrong you.

That's right.

That's what Jesus did.

No matter what the wrong is.

Jesus was being crucified and said, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do.

He's on the cross now.

So I've got people in my past that I'd like, now that I'm bigger and

stronger and heavier and martial arts up, I'd like to talk to them and have a discussion

with them.

Behind the bleachers, back at the old high school, the people I want to talk to.

That's never going to happen because I would never do anything like that.

Because I have things to forgive.

Remember, I didn't start having, I've told this before, I didn't stop having nightmares of being murdered until I was

35.

I remember the last one.

I remember the last dream where I didn't have any, but I remembered after that.

But here's the thing, that's what we're called to do.

And it's difficult.

I remember the story of the man whose son was murdered and the

murderer was caught, apprehended and went to jail.

And the father visited that man in jail and forgave him that father was a

Christian.

And he developed a relationship with that murderer and led that young man to the Lord.

And when that man got out decades later from paying for his crime, he stayed with that father.

And you can watch the movie End of the Spear, which is a great movie.

And I interviewed on the radio, the young boy who's been a grown man, who was in the movie at

the end, because he became friends with the man

who killed his father.

And they're friends and they love each other because there's forgiveness in Jesus.

There's no reason ultimately that we have to hold on to any wrong.

Because I could get the Bible and maybe I will do this because we're getting on this topic, a little side

break.

But Colossians 3, I tell people, don't read Colossians 3, because Colossians

3 will hurt you.

Colossians 3 will expose you to what you are in yourself.

And Colossians 3, as good as it is, talks about what it means to be

loving.

See, Ruth was living it.

She's an example of living what it was she professed.

She did.

She's a great, she is.

I'm here.

If there was no women here, I'd be saying this to the man, I'd say, man, we need to listen to her.

Listen to what she did.

What a great example of it was.

I'd go to other places in the scripture.

We need to learn from these women, what they've done in the scriptures and why they're recorded in the word of God as being inspired

because of the things that they did.

And they were praised by God for it.

These are important things.

So if we're to go to Colossians 3, I'm kind of rambling a little bit about this.

It says, verse 5, I'm just going to read through it.

Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to

idolatry.

For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience.

That's not us.

That's them.

And in them, you also once walked when you were living in them.

But now you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, abuse of speech

from your mouth, do not lie to one another, that you've laid aside the old self with its evil practices and have put on the

new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image

of the one who created him.

A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew.

That's huge in that culture.

Circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, scythian, slave and freeman.

But Christ is all and in all.

So this is, I don't like this.

So as those who have been chosen of God, that's the elect, that's the ones redeemed.

Let me read again.

So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion,

kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other,

whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

There's no way I can do that.

But with Christ, I can.

I read a story about a man who is married.

And I don't know if he had a problem with his wife, was upset with his wife, or with somebody else.

I think it was with his wife.

Not that his wife was bad or whatever.

What I'm talking about is he had this issue and he was upset and he went in to pray.

And he prayed to forgive, I think it was his wife, to forgive her or whatever.

And he got up from his knees, but he was still angry, had to get back down on his knees.

And this went on for a while, he said, until he had spent enough time with the Lord when

he realized, yeah, maybe she wasn't that wrong.

Maybe I blew it.

But then there was mutual stuff.

But that wasn't the important issue.

It was, I need to truly forgive.

And he would not leave his knees until he got to that place.

And I thought, could I do that?

I don't know.

Was Ruth like this?

Compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, patient?

Yeah, she was.

That's what we're supposed to be.

I find this interesting that Ruth exhibited a lot of what Paul says you're supposed to do.

Just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

And I've had to deal with this verse many times and I don't like it.

Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you are called in one body and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching, admonishing one another with psalms and

hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

So, I mean, there's a lot here and I'd love to preach through this.

But anyway, when I look through the Old Testament and I see things,

I want to find Jesus in them.

I want to learn.

I'm good at doctrine.

I'm good at extracting doctrine.

But there's a doctrine of love right here, which is practiced.

That's what true love is, practiced.

It's not sequestered, it's not isolated, it's not reduced.

True love comes from God and true love is like Ruth.

By being humble, she's not stubborn.

By being patient, she's not demanding.

By being submissive to the will of God through the people around her, she's not

trying to work circumstances for her benefit.

Because to do one thing means to not do another.

And if we're doing the other, we can't do the former.

If we're being prideful, we can't be humble.

But if we're being humble, then we're not going to be prideful.

Incidentally, pride and humility are very similar.

They both hide themselves in your heart and you can't recognize them, but others can.

You can see the humility in someone else and the pride in

someone else.

And I have a friend named Bill McKeever, a great expert on Mormonism, and I've known him for

decades.

And I said to Bill, I said, Bill, you are a pretty humble guy.

And he said, yeah, I'm proud of my humility.

I never forgot that.

And I chuckled.

But he is a pretty humble guy.

He's a good guy.

So that's the book of

Ruth.

A lot to learn, a lot to glean from the book of Ruth.

You got that?

Gleaning the book of Ruth.

Oh, man.

Yep.

And you wonder, people who are listening, I think

my foot hit the button, which is right there.

That's what it was, exactly where my foot is.

So hold on, let there be light.

Okay.

And we'll go down a little bit, whatever.

All right.

So you guys have any comments or questions here or there?

Go ahead.

Let's see.

Matt says, Boaz married her.

Isn't that a type of servitude or no?

Yes, it is.

I would say so, Erasmus.

It was not a humiliation, but a humbling of Boaz

in that to get the bride.

I don't know how that was humble that much, but interesting.

Michael says, I really love learning the types of Jesus in the Old Testament.

Jill, Matt is real.

That's right.

I'm right here.

I'm not a hologram.

That's correct, Jill.

Vicki says, I have been listening to him for years and I've never noticed him to be passive, aggressive, and braggy.

Who, me?

Hear that?

I'll get my wife right over here.

Nick, have you heard?

Someone's making noise over there.

Okay.

Let's see.

How come that's hiding?

What happened?

Okay.

Hi, that Jill Baxter.

Okay.

I don't know what's going on there.

Okay.

Have a blessed night, everyone.

It's late in the East Coast.

Kevin D, you're welcome.

LP.

I wonder what his favorite record is.

Thank you.

Jimmy Smythe.

Thanks, Matt and Nick for hospitality.

Vicki Gower.

Jimmy Smythe, Ruth's sister returned to her homeland.

That's right.

Do you have any questions?

Anything else you want to add or anything?

What was that?

Okay.

Wait a second.

Chris Yoke.

Listened to Matt for a while.

I like some part of his teaching, though some old, but he is quite passive, aggressive, and braggy, particularly

like his Bible study, not so much on calls.

Okay.

See, when someone says that about me, passive, aggressive, and braggy, I will never say it's not true

because there's always some degree of sin in me where that is true.

Yep.

You're arrogant.

I've had people say, Matt, you're arrogant.

Yep.

You're prideful.

Yep.

You're stubborn.

Yep.

Now what?

What I'm telling you is still true.

Daniel Lundy.

Enjoyed the show, Matt.

Never boring.

Good.

Ruth's sister returned to her homeland.

Good night, kids.

Truth defenders.

All right.

Anybody here have any comments?

You enjoyed that?

You enjoyed the book of Ruth?

It was good, huh?

It was good.

I'm getting kind of more intrigued with the idea of doing a study on the women of the Bible.

Let's see what we can glean.

But another study I want to do is just on Jesus to see what he was like as a man.

That would be interesting.

What was Jesus like as a man?

What's masculinity according to Jesus?

That's an interesting study.

What?

What?

He wasn't obnoxious.

He wasn't obnoxious?

But he did say things like, you whitewashed sepulcher, you have your father the devil.

And he did say to Mary who was there, who is working,

that it's better to be with them.

But that wouldn't apply to me.

But you don't think Jesus was obnoxious?

He was straightforward.

He was straightforward.

He was truthful.

That's right.

He was a servant.

And what?

No nonsense.

No nonsense.

That means half of what I say is going to be gone.

Yeah, you didn't disagree with that one.

That means the Bible study won't be an hour, it'll be five or six minutes.

Okay.

Which one would be awesome?

I know what Vicki would want probably, the study on the ladies, which I think is really a good study.

I think it would be a good study.

Start with Eve.

Start with Eve?

We're going to start with Eve?

The woman you gave me.

She's the first woman after all.

She's the first woman.

And you know the theology behind all of that.

I get on the guy more than the girl.

But hey, Matt, all you had to do is hold up that broken cup that

stops the show.

I love that cup.

It's upstairs.

I have a wine goblet upstairs, and

it's 3 ,300 years old.

Actually, 3 ,320 or 3 ,350, 50 years

old.

It's a wine goblet.

And I like it because it's broken, just like we are.

I hope in eternal state, we can see instant replay of all history as it really happened.

That might hurt your head.

It was all history as it really happened instantly.

Mary can do it apparently because she can hear all prayers from all people in all languages all over the world simultaneously

while they're thought and spoken.

I witnessed to a friend yesterday, and when I got to repent and put your faith in Christ, he asked how.

I said, trusting Christ for salvation.

He asked, but how?

Am I not clear?

Well, you could give an illustration, Louise.

One of the common ones is you trust somebody.

What does it mean to trust somebody?

You have them turn their back to you and close their eyes and fall back into your arms.

So I'll catch you.

You trust that I will do that.

And this is what trust is.

It's an action in that sense.

And so to trust means to cognitively put your

dependence in that.

And speaking of humility, have you seen the war going between Kelly Powers and Sam

Schimone?

They are going back and forth.

It's getting ugly.

I used to know Kelly Powers years ago, and Sam, I still know.

Type out what's going on, Truth, and I'll mention a little bit here.

It's been a long time since I talked to Kelly Powers.

What?

Oh, just like an apologist.

Sam Schimone, like an apologist.

And I used to talk to Kelly.

I'm trying to remember.

It's been years ago.

But anyway, no big deal.

So that's that.

Sam was getting out of hand.

Yeah, yeah, I think so.

Yep, I would see that.

Okay, Truth.

Insults, accusations, yeah.

Yeah, there's some issues there.

All right.

Well, I guess we'll just close it up.

It's almost nine o 'clock my time.

It'll be 11 o 'clock on the East Coast and wherever you are in other parts of the world.

Hope you had a good time.

No study next week because it's Thanksgiving.

And then we're going to meet again the week after and discuss, just give us

anecdotes of how God's worked in your life.

Remember?

You guys thought that would be good?

You better be talking right now.

That's obviously better.

Because otherwise, something about sandwiches,

right?

We should have a contest at the end of the year.

Which woman or man, my wife says,

makes the best sandwiches.

We could actually have, you know, it would be kind of fun to actually have a best sandwich making

contest.

We each kind of try each other's and have a vote and stuff like that just to see.

It wouldn't be fair.

That wouldn't be fair.

We got to have mixed teams here.

Yeah.

Handicap.

Are you kidding me?

I would just slap some bologna on a couple of breads and some mustard there.

What's that?

You wouldn't eat that, see?

I did.

I fry it up and then I put mustard and mayo and then that's what I had for dinner tonight.

She frisbees a bag of frozen peas at me.

Neek would win, says Laura.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, she would.

Yeah.

She's a good cook.

What's that?

And she has a good arm.

That's right.

She can zing it right into my skull.

That's right.

All right.

Okay, everybody.

Well, God bless.

We'll see you in a couple of weeks.

Lord willing.

All right.

Man, have you heard about the Great Reset?

Yes, I have.

It's coming.

We're going to be talking about a little bit about that after after we sign off here.

But what I could do.

What's that?

Okay.

Okay, Vicki, God bless.

Keep up the falconing, falconry, falconry.

She's a falconer.

I found out today that she has red tail hawks.

And I was asking if there's a way to train them to go after leftist wacko commies.

Would that be an expression of love that you were talking about?

Yes.

Yeah, because it's an imprecatory form of love.

All right, everybody.

God bless.

We'll see you.

All right.

Two weeks, two weeks.

We'll see you.

God bless everybody.